Link: Amazon, Price: £3.00
Lucy Hutton loved her job at a quirky, old school publishing house. That is until they were forced into a merger with their ruthless, business-like competitors. After being forced to manage the redundancies of her friends and colleagues, now she shares a desk with her arch nemesis: Joshua Templeman. She hates his stupid shirts with a colour for each day, his stupid way of taking incomprehensible notes while she talks, his stupid nicknames and taunts that lead them repeatedly into despairing jurisdiction of HR. Now Lucy and Joshua are up for the same promotion. And only one can survive.
This was my first experience of the “hate to love” sub-genre. A great deal of romance is divided into specific sub-genres, where the reader has very particular expectations that the writer is obliged to meet (I’m looking at you, werewolf reverse-harem fans). There’s nothing wrong with that: you’re going to be annoyed if you go and see Fast and Furious and there are no cars. But that does mean you open the book expecting that Lucy will end up with Joshua. If Thorne does otherwise, she’s taking an awful risk with genre fans (again, more power to genre fans, I just binge watched Twilight – and enjoyed myself).
That created two problems for me. First, I like to be surprised. One werewolf reverse-harem is probably enough for me. I’ve had my experience of dinosaur love stories and it was enough. Second, it’s rare I hate anyone. It’s not a sentiment I sympathise with. I’ve hated pirates carrying cargoes of slaves like cattle (and had the pleasure of seeing them delivered justice). I’ve hated homophobes who have assault my friends in the street just because. But hating someone because they’re annoying? Nope. Equally, I can’t fall for someone I don’t like. Not liking someone immediately kills any romantic interest I might have had.
So, Thorne had a job to do. And you know what? She nailed it. I was never going to love this book. But it made me laugh. I liked the protagonists (it took a while with Joshua, but then it was supposed to.) Thorne created some great scenes: the paintballing and the protagonists first night together (it doesn’t go how you expect) stand out.
Thorne made the journey worthwhile. I’d recommend this to people who may not like the hate-to-love genre (like me). This is a good read with great characters. Does Thorne take a chance with her readers and not get Lucy and Josh together in the end? If you like romance at all, I suggest you buy this book and find out for yourself.
